A few months ago, a couple of writers and I had a mini-debate over this topic. SO, here’s the question: do you give the chapters in your books titles, … Continue reading Chapter Titles: Love Them or Hate Them
Tag: writing
First Impressions and First Lines
“Call me Ishmael,”. Do I even need to tell you, this is the first line of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick ? I feel like literally EVERYONE who has ever read a book knows this line. There’s something about it that grabs your attention. Maybe it’s because this opening line is dialogue. Maybe it’s because its a little unexpected. Whatever the reason, it stays with you.
I read Jack London’s Call of the Wild years ago, when I was in high school. I’m not sure why, but the opening line of the first chapter has always stayed with me: Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tidewater dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego. That’s the magic of opening lines of books. They are the all important first impression, that will help the reader decide, if this book is a journey they want to go on, or if it may not be worth their time. As a writer, I try to come up with great first lines for my books. I suppose its hit or miss, but I still try.
Was it a dream or was it reality?
I wrote the first line to Fortune’s Wing sixteen years ago. It was the first thing about the book, that popped into my head. More than the characters, or the story, I came up with this line. I feel like this line invokes the mystery surrounding The Prophecy of the Wings, which is the heart of the story. Fortune has been plagued by dreams of the end of the world for several years, and he doesn’t understand why, until he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger who seems to know a lot about him.
It was early; around six in the morning. It was a good time to hit the road.
I’m going to cheat here, and include the second line as well. The opening line of Valentine doesn’t waist any time. It’s early, and a road trip is about to take place. Val Entienne, aka Valentine, is on a mission. The first book in the Valentine series concerns Val going to California to find her father, Vincent. She meets (and helps) many different people along the way, including fourteen-year-old orphan Melinda St. James, who becomes an important part of Val’s life.
When I was twelve years old, I fell in love with rock n roll.
Amy’s statement is the opening line of Our Lady of Righteous Rage/Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored is the first step into what is going to be a journey through childhood, love, friendships, and rock n’ roll. Amy and her friends grow up and experience the ups and downs of adolescence and adulthood, including marriage and divorce, all while starting a business and a band. Friends become lovers and lovers become enemies. After reading that first line, you may find yourself wondering: what made a twelve year old fall in love with rock n’ roll?
The dark blue Dodge Challenger pulled over and parked in front of an abandoned lot, covered with overgrown shrubs and bushes.
When I went back an re-read this line, the first word that popped into my head, was seclusion. When you continue to read the opening paragraph from Allan and Mac, you may find yourself thinking, the driver of the car, must have pulled over because the car broke down. When you read the first sentence of the second paragraph, you realize, she didn’t pull over because she was having car trouble; she pulled over for an entirely different reason…
Allan and Mac is the first book in what turned into a spin-off from the Valentine series. A brother and sister duo work as hitmen, and both have interesting ways of carrying out the hits they are paid to do. For instance, Mac would like to drown an alcoholic in a bathtub filled with beer. This story is as dark as it is amusing, with Allan and Mac having conversations about the most mundane things, in between acting as killers for hire. I sort of struggled with the first line. I wanted readers to be interested, without giving away the aesthetic of the book. You don’t really know how twisted this ride is going to be, until that second paragraph.
For anyone interested, previews for my books are available on my website:
http://www.woolastonentertainment.com/previews.html
Monday Blog: Guest Blogger Ebunnygirl!
Welcome to a special edition of the Monday Blog! This week, guest blogger Ebunnygirl will be posting one of her WordPress blogs. Please enjoy, and you can find more of her posts on her WordPress page, https://ebunnygirl.wordpress.com/
Nicole Woolaston’s Spin-offs Are Worth Reading
I’ve never been a huge fan of spin-offs. Sometimes you find a really good TV show or book, and then someone decides to take a character or idea from it and create a second show or write a second book. The spin-off usually stinks. For example, I love the show “Criminal Minds”, but “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior” kinda sucked.
As I have mentioned before, I’m a fan of indie authors, especially Nicole Woolaston. She’s the author of the Fortune’s Wing series, the Valentine series, and the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. BTW: I am not being compensated in any way, to post any of this. Woolaston’s books are unique, and completely different from any other books I’ve read. Once you pick one up and start reading, you’re going to have a hard time putting it down. I’ve read Valentine, and it’s one of my favorite books. When I discovered Woolaston was publishing a series of companion books for the Valentine series, I became curious. Normally, when I give a spin-off a try, I end up being uninterested and disappointed. But that wasn’t the case with the Valentine Apart series.
The Valentine Apart series focuses on characters APART from Valentine (the lead character) herself. The first is Allan and Mac, which is about the brother and sister duo who work as hitmen. It is HYSTERICAL! The casual conversations that take place between Allan and Mac when they’re in the middle of doing their job, are brilliant. Next, is Her Name is Lola Vencent, which give details about Lola’s life before she started working for John Rafferty, the primary villain in the Valentine series. Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen talks about one of my favorite characters, Jo Fuentes. She’s the Marine turned hitwoman from the regular series.
What makes these books so good, is the way they’re written. You can read them as companion books to the Valentine series, or you can read them separate and apart. The end of each book, however, ties into the regular series with such ease. If you’ve read the regular series (as I have) you find yourself thinking, Oh, I know what this is! I remember that scene from one of the other books!
The companion books in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series work the same way. You can read them along with the regular series, or read them alone. And, much like the Valentine Apart books, the stories and endings tie into the books from the regular series.
I think one of the reasons Woolaston’s spin-offs are so entertaining, is the way she chooses particular characters to focus on. Allan, Mac, Lola and Jo from Valentine were excellent choices for stand-alone books. Erin, Dee and Jon from Our Lady of Righteous Rage are characters we didn’t know a lot about, but their personal stories were interesting enough to make for good reading. The author is currently writing two more Valentine Apart books, and is planning to write another Our Lady book as well. I’m looking forward to reading all of them. If you’ve never read Woolaston’s books, you really should pick one up.
Nicole Woolaston can be found here on WordPress and on her website, www.woolastonentertainment.com
Thank you to Ebunnygirl for providing this week’s post!
Scheduling Facebook Posts Saves Me Time
When you’re an indie author, or a business owner (or both), you spend a lot of time promoting your product, website, service, or whatever. Promoting can be time consuming. The time I spend, posting on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc, is time I’d rather spend writing. However, its necessary, and it does work. Facebook posts and tweets help me drive traffic to my website, which creates awareness of me and my books, which leads to sales, via Amazon or my online store. But, like I said, creating all of those posts is time consuming. I recently stumbled upon a feature on Facebook which I have found to be extremely helpful.
I’m on Facebook Messenger, and Messenger frequently sends me info about tips to use for my business Facebook page. Normally, I ignore most of these tips, because I am bombarded by messages on Messenger, 24/7. There was one tip that caught my attention: Scheduling a post. It had never occurred to me, to SCHEDULE some of my posts. I decided to give it a try, and sat down and created five posts, and scheduled them to be posted at different times on a given day. I checked my page later on, to see if all of my posts had been posted, and they had, on time. I have to admit, this lifted a small weight off of my shoulders. I could create content for my page in one sitting, and choose when I wanted it to appear on the page. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not I had posted enough content on a particular day, throughout the day. This gave me time to focus on other things, such as writing and editing my next round of books.
this lifted a small weight off of my shoulders
Some of you are probably aware of this, but it was new to me. If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot. And it’s very simple: when you create a post, instead of clicking on POST, click the arrow next to the word “post”, and select “schedule” from the drop-down menu. Or, create a post, and select “post options” at the bottom of your post. Click on the arrow next to “now”, then click “schedule”. From there, you can choose a specific date and time for the post to appear. As a side note, I’d recommend scheduling your posts during the time of day your page sees the most traffic. You can determine this by clicking on the “insights” tab, on the top of the page. I’m in love with this feature, and I plan to use it more often!
woolastonentertainment.com
Monday Blog: The Witch of Fulton Lane’s Dark Sequel
Greetings and salutations, everyone! It’s another fabulous Monday. This week, I’d like to focus on one of the three books I’m currently writing. Aside from the next two books in the Valentine Apart series, I’ve been making notes for the sequel to The Witch of Fulton Lane. The title is The Age of The Daughter.
The Age of The Daughter
I did some research on the subject of Dianic Wicca, Paganism, and Neo Paganism. If anyone takes the time to look into my borrowing history from the library, I’m sure they’ll be in for a surprise! Here’s a short list of what I’ve read recently:
The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess by Starhawk
Modern Paganism In World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives by Michael Strmiska
Re-Riting Woman: Dianic Wicca and the Feminine Divine by Kristy S. Coleman
Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe by Raven Grimassi
I’m always saying this: read what you write! If you’re writing a story where one of your characters is a gardener, you may want to pick up a copy of “Better Homes and Gardens”, and do a little research. If you’re working on a sci-fi book, READ some sci-fi books. Fulton Lane deals with witchcraft, so I needed to read about witchcraft.
The title The Age of the Daughter comes from a passage I read in Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe by Raven Grimassi. It speaks of a time when women will walk as men do; women will begin to have the power that has been reserved for men until that time. The moment I read that, I knew I needed to use it, and I knew I could build a story around it. In this new story, Dylan Maycriss will find herself being pursued by a coven of witches who practice Dianic Wicca, a neopagan religion of female-centered goddess ritual and tradition. They worship the Goddess Diana, and want to bring Dylan into their fold. Dylan also learns she may have a half-sister through her father, Marcus Maycriss, who is part of this coven.
It’s going to take me a long time to write the first draft of this book, but I’d like to have most of it on paper (or USB, I guess) by October. I have so many details I want to pump into this book, so I’m going to take my time with it.
The Author’s Corner
And, I’d also like to mention, the Author’s Corner has some new members! This is open to all writers, bloggers, artists, etc. I will gladly post your information on my site for free. If you want to share links to your websites, books, Amazon Author Pages, social media pages and the like, please contact me. I can also post images of the covers of books, along with author head shots. I have seven members so far, so keep it coming!
See you again next week.
Please Press Pound
I overheard a conversation the other day
Between a mother and her teenaged daughter
While waiting on line at Rite Aid
The daughter was on her cell phone
In the middle of what seemed to be
An annoying phone call
I watched as she held the phone to her ear,
Then pulled it away and pressed a button
Held the phone to her ear
Then pulled it away and pressed a button
Growing more and more frustrated by the minute
Her mother asked, “What’s wrong honey?”
“Can’t get through to anyone?”
The daughter sighed, and said,
“It’s automated!
It keeps telling me to press pound!
Where’s pound?”
The mother pointed to the screen on the phone,
And said, “It’s right there.”
The daughter snorted, and laughed,
And said, “Duh Mom. That’s hashtag.
Everyone knows that.”
woolastonentertainment.com
Monday Blog: Patagonia Library, New Valentine Apart Books, Biologicals
Greetings, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I have some wonderful news for you, so let’s jump right in: one of my books is available for check-out at a public library in Arizona, I’m further along in my drafts for the next two Valentine Apart books, and Biologicals is currently available in paperback form!
Patagonia Public Library
First, I need to say thank you to Shannon Wright of the Patagonia Public Library, for sharing info about the Street Lit Program on Facebook! This was created in order to give indie authors some exposure. I donated a copy of Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored , and it’s available for check-out! So, if you’re reading this in Arizona, check out the books in the Street Lit collection!
https://www.patagoniapubliclibrary.org/
This has inspired me to reach out to public libraries beyond my home in New York. If anyone reading this knows of a library seeking book donations, please let me know! You can reach me on the WE website contact page, or just email me: woolent@hotmail.com
New Books in Valentine Apart
As I have mentioned before, I’m working on the next two books for the Valentine Apart series. So far, the drafts are coming along nicely. In Project Sleep, Jo Fuentes is not sure if she’s being paranoid, or if she’s being followed. Her suspicions are confirmed when Kelly McCormick gives her her next assignment.
Speaking of Kelly, in Young Kelly McCormick, Kelly attends a meeting and makes it very clear to the rest of the Syndicate, where she stands. She’s not there to be anyone’s secretary, and she wants just as much respect as the men sitting in the room. Of course, if she’s going to get a seat at the table, she’ll have to earn it the hard way…
I’ll keep you posted as I continue to write.
Biologicals
The paperback is ready! You can find it now in the Create Space store! By tomorrow, it should also be available on Amazon’s site. I will release the Ebook in a few weeks. I really hope everyone enjoys the latest Our Lady story!
Until next week, folks!
woolastonentertainment.com
Monday Blog: Inside the Personal Lives of Characters
This month’s theme is New Fiction, and I’m currently working on three new books (technically four, but I haven’t started the draft for the fourth one yet; only notes). All three books explore the personal lives of the main characters featured in the story. This week, I wanted to talk a little about the characters.
Jon Sarconi of Biologicals
Jon only makes a few appearances in the Our Lady books. You’re introduced to him when he’s a toddler, and later, as a child and then as a teen, he only has a few lines. He receives his own chapters in Your Fame Will Destroy You, and even then, it’s limited. I started thinking about the idea of him being adopted, and how his relationship with his birth parents turned sour when he was young. I decided, there was enough material there to write a story. My first thought, was a shot story, then I decided to write a companion book. Biologicals gives readers a little insight into Jon’s life: his feelings towards his birth parents, his mother Amy Edwards, and his thoughts on being adopted. Like Novocaine, this book is written in Jon’s “voice”, so readers will get a chance to really get to know him.
Jo Fuentes of Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep
You already know a few things about Jo, if you’ve read the books in the Valentine and Valentine Apart series. She’s a Marine, who survived an attack in the Iraqi desert, which killed everyone in her unit, except herself and her friend Sully. She starts working for Kelly McCormick becomes a hitwoman for the Syndicate. Jo has a special set of skills, which saved her life and Sully’s life in Iraq, however, Jo can’t recall where she learned the things she knows. She’s adept at killing, and she knows a variety of methods. Little by little, Jo begins to have flashes of a white classroom, and five other soldiers, where she is being trained to kill. Kelly is able to do some investigating and learn that Jo was part pf a program called “Project Sleep”. The project was canceled, and Jo’s mind was supposedly wiped clean of any memories of it, however, the incident in Iraq triggered her memories. In Project Sleep, Jo finds herself digging deeper and deeper into her past, learning more about Project Sleep, and about herself.
Kelly McCormick of Young Kelly McCormick
Before Kelly McCormick made a name for herself in the Syndicate, she made a name for herself around her neighborhood, and with people who knew her. The Syndicate isn’t ready to accept a woman in a powerful position, but twenty-year-old Kelly is going to show them she deserves a seat at the table. Aside from working with the Syndicate. Kelly has several personal issues to deal with, including an uncle who gambles and gets himself into dangerously high debts. Young Kelly McCormick reveals Kelly’s life before her rise within the Syndicate.
See you next week….
woolastonentertainment.com
Sample from “Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep”
I‘m currently working on three new books. One of them is Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep. This is the fourth book in my Valentine Apart series, and it a sequel to Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen. Yes, my ass-kicking Marine turned hitwoman is back, and I’d like to share a small sample from the first chapter. Enjoy!
Remember why you are here. You are here to serve your country…
It was the inside of a white classroom. Six of them stood in a row, guns drawn and pointed at the mannequins at the other end of the room. The idea was to shoot the mannequins, at center mass. The six of them fired at once. When they were finished, they lowered their guns, and awaited further instructions. This had been a simple task, with no real challenge. Using a handgun was easy enough. The real training would begin, when they learned how to use inanimate objects. There was a rumor going around, they would be trained to kill using something as common as a number two pencil…
So you can shoot a handgun. Big deal! What would you do if a gun wasn’t available? What else would you use? It was always the same voice, barking from behind them. No matter how good you are, you can always be better! Let’s start with Fuentes!
Jo’s eyes suddenly shot open. She stared up at her ceiling, furrowing her brow and trying to get a grasp on where she was. She slowly turned to her left, and recognized her alarm clock, sitting on her nightstand. She took a deep breath, and released it. Her room, in the same apartment she’d grown up in. The white classroom from her dream had faded into memory. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed, and scratched the back of her head. It was Saturday morning. There wasn’t any place she needed to be today, so the day was all hers. She stood up, and stretched all five feet and eleven inches of her, and yawned. “First order of business,” she said out loud, “A shower.”
Monday Blog: New Fiction!
It’s July! It’s a new month! It’s time for a new theme! I’m thinking about having a dual theme, but for now, I’m going to focus on new fiction. I currently have three new books in the works (and I’m still doing research for a fourth). So, this week, I’m going to tell you about the three I’m working on. Warning: there may be some spoilers here!
Biologicals
Another side-story in the world of Our Lady of Righteous Rage is emerging. This one is all about Jon Sarconi, Amy’s adopted son. Written in the same style as Novocaine, Jon’s life is one it’s way up: his band is finally becoming serious about their music, he’s getting help from Nick and Mike, and he’s about to start his first year of college. Nothing can spoil any of that, right? Then he receives a visit from a pair of unexpected guests: his biological parents.
Jon’s parents haven’t participated in his life since he was seven. Amy and David adopted him, and after their divorce, Amy won custody of him. As far as Jon is concerned, Amy is his mother. But his birth parents (or biologicals, as he calls them) suddenly want to get back into his life. Jon can’t help but wonder why. Biologicals will be available later this month.
Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep
Valentine and family have moved out of New York and on with their lives. Kelly McCormick is running the Syndicate, and Jo is her left hand man (Hugo is still her right). Jo begins having strange dreams about classrooms and training sessions, which lead her to think about how she learned to become such a skillful killer. But Jo’s not the only one thinking about her skills, and the more she begins to dig, the more she finds herself in serious danger. In this fourth installment of the Valentine Apart series, Jo will finally learn who she really is…
Young Kelly McCormick
Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Before she was running the Syndicate, and before she became one of the most fearsome women in New York, young Kelly McCormick had to work to make a name for herself. And, being one of very few women in the business, she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to schedule meetings and make coffee for everyone else. Kelly makes bold moves to show everyone around her, why she deserves a place in the Syndicate…
I’m also doing research for the sequel to The Witch of Fulton Lane, which should be out by October (hopefully in time for Halloween!). I’ve been reading a ton of material on Witchcraft, Wicca, and Paganism, and I’ve come across some truly fascinating information I want to use in the sequel. The working title is The Age of the Daughter. I’ll tell you more about it, as I continue to work on it.
Until next week…
woolastonentertainment.com
woolastonentertainment.com 